To shim, or not to shim

[shaneymack]

So to conclude here, I figure I should give the rundown for future search function users.

when simply shimming didn't work, I tore the beds completely off.  Good thing I did because I found two issues. 1) there was an ungodly amount of caked on crap in both the bed runners and the channels. 2) the jib screw that held the blade side of the outfeed bed had been severely over tightened at some point causing it to tear the threads out of the cast iron.

cleaning the channels was easy with some break cleaner and a wire brush. After wiping back all the crud, I applied a very thin coat of white lithium grease to the contact areas to smooth the bed movement. Tapping the threads was another issue. I couldn't get at the original hole with my tap so I moved about  an inch down, drilled the pilot and threaded to size. After reassembling everything,  the beds moved much smoother but were still outside of my personal tolerance.  Out came a $4.39 feeler gauge set from harbor freight. Measuring and inserting shims became MUCH easier and more reliable when I could choose the thickness and location of the shim. It only took two 4 corner measurement and shim rounds, ending with (2) .010 shims on the blade side of the outfeed, and a .006 on the far end of the infeed bed. I tried to not shim the infeed but there just wasn't any way around it. 

Ending measurements are noted below. Before setting the table heights for good.

.007.               .004

.010.               .007

i believe this to be absolutely within tolerance of a hobby woodworker. After resetting the knives for the eight hundred and forty even thousandth time this month, two 6' long  8/4 cherry boards told the tale.  Laying the freshly jointed edges against each other, I could only see light at the last 1/2" or so. Snipe be damned.

this was a frustrating but I'd say solid learning experience.

Glad to hear you got it working. For what you paid i guess it was worth the headaches?

[Brendon_t]

Glad to hear you got it working. For what you paid i guess it was worth the headaches?

it was absolutely worthworth headache. Yes  it was a PITA but it was something I really did need to learn to do.  I plan on owning that guy for many many years to come which I'm sure will include a move or two giving it the chance to go out of calibration.

I had built up removing the beds and fence to be something bigger than it needed to be.  I planned on giving it a fresh coat of paint eventually and knowing how to knock the thing down to its basic components will come in handy.